"Hey, Royce—come over here!" Johannes yelled over the noise. Royce dropped the guitar he was inspecting and walked over to where Johannes sat in a corner. There was a dusty piano in front of him.

"Oh wow. A piano." Royce said

"Do you want to try?" Johannes said as he scooted over on the seat and gestured for Royce to sit next to him.

"Oh—um, sure?.," Royce responded.

Royce moved carefully next to Johannes, on the piano seat. He chuckled as he said, "How do you play the piano again?"

Johannes smiled. "Try it first, then I'll show you."

"Oh boy—be prepared to be tortured," Royce joked. He hit one of the middle keys ahead of him and a high-pitched sound came out in return. He cringed. "Yeah, I can't do this."

"Let me at least show you," Johannes decided, and he shifted a slight bit to have more space. He then got out both hands and started playing a tune.

Johannes made it look so unrelentlessly simple since all he did was spam some notes the whole time.

Johanesennes stopped and looked at Royce with a small grin. "Let's practise Chopsticks. It's pretty simple—for beginners—you'll get it in no time!" he said happily.

"You don't—you don't have to," he quickly added. Did he sound too desperate? "No, no, it's all right. It'd be great, actually, if you could?..," said Royce, quite embarrassed.

Johannes, as well, went the same shade of pink before smiling once again and looking back at the piano.

"Yeah... Here," Johannes instructed, taking Royces' hands. Their fingers inclined and neither of them dared to look at one another. Royce couldn't resist realising that Johannes' hands were so awfully warm—like being bear-hugged.

"Use two fingers," Johannes instructed as he put Royce's fingers on the white keys. "This key is F while the key next to it is G, just play them together at the same time."

It suddenly felt like the backstage was getting very hot, and especially quiet. Royce was eager to look around, yet didn't want to miss a moment.

Royce tried to play the keys that Johannes instructed. They sounded awkwardly weird, but at least he was making progress.

Their faces inched closer when they shifted, and their warm breath casted over the others' neck.

"Now, play these two keys at the same time too," Johannes taught as he moved Royce's hands to the other white keys, "Just relax, your notes won't sound perfect if you're nervous." He smiled sweetly.

Johannes was right, Royce had been nervous the whole time. He needed to calm down—but how can you calm down when your crush was barely two centimetres away from you.

What is he even saying? Him, having a crush on a famous and rich person, not to mention someone way higher up than him? He was being ridiculous. He doesn't have a chance to be more than friends with Johannes.

"Are you alright, Royce?" Johannes asked Royce, making him snap out of his thoughts. Royces' mind must've on deep thoughts again.

Royce hummed before responding with a smile, "I'm alright, no need to worry."

"If you say so," Johannes muttered in worry, "Let's continue then," he stated as Johannes laid Royce's finger on two different keys.

"This is F and B, just like the other notes, you play them at the same time. Surely, you can't mess up these parts," Johannes said, strangely certain. "How about you try on your own this time?" He let Royces' hands fall, and suddenly it felt as if a vibe had been cut off, or at least for Royce.

Royce paused. He didn't remember most of the keys, but a few mistakes wouldn't be that bad, right? Plus, Royce was a beginner to these types of stuff, Johannes would understand that.

Royce laid his fingers on the white keys before breathing in and out and started playing.

Surprisingly, he got the first notes right—the song was actually pretty easy. He thought for sure that he could ace it.

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But unfortunately, Royce messed up on the third set of notes. He cursed under his breath and looked at Johannes with an awkward smile.

Johannes' aura changed to an uncomfortable one, he certainly looks disappointed. " ...How about you try again? You can do it!" Johannes exclaimed, smiling.

Royce blinked before looking back at the piano and sighing, his hands timidly shaking. It was claimed that Johannes definitely didn't like when Royce messed up a really easy song.

Royce started playing the song again, but because of the uneasy feeling, he messed up immediately.

The uneasy feeling got worse; Royce didn't even want to look back at Johannes. Was Johannes really the one sitting next to him? His vibe had changed immediately, was this what normally happens when he gets disappointed?

"...I'm sorry." Royce apologised, truly meaning it, with his head still down.

"It's fine. Just try again." Johannes' tone changed, it wasn't the same as before, it sounded really disappointed

Royce huffed as he tried once more; his sweated finger slipped and hit the wrong note.

"Maybe piano just isn't my thi—" Royce cut himself off when he finally looked back at Johannes who looked like he was about to lose it.

"Do you even—"

But this time, Johannes got cut off.

"Yo wassup!"

It was Cameroon, carrying two beige maracas that shook in his hands repeatedly. "Look what I found! Cool, right?" he laughed. His eyes were squinted from his large entertained smile.

Cameroon looked at the piano, then at angry Johannes, to finally, a scared-but-now-relieved Royce. Cameroon frowned. "Johannes...you okay?" he asked, knowing that he was clearly mad but unsure as to why.

"He—I—" Royce tried to answer for him.

"It's fine. I just messed up on the piano, that's all."

"O..kay..?" Cameroon slowly responded, with his eyebrows scrunched up, suspicious and confused Cameroon looked at Royce and then leaned to his ear.

"You really don't want to mess up in front of Johannes, he's super sensitive about it and he wants everything to be perfect—y'know, thanks to his dad and stuff," Cameroon whispered. Now Royce understood why Johannes was acting weird. "You owe me for saving you." he added.

Johannes was quite scarier than what Royce had thought, but he wondered, is Johannes' father scarier?

"Anyways," he fixed his posture, his face and voice level normal, "Johannes! Let's go out together at Break, we'll go to the sweet shop where we usually go too!" Cameroon said with a bright smile.

Royce looked back at Johannes. He seemed to changed mood immediately, and was actually excited about Cameroon's offer. Johannes must love sweets a lot.

Royce made a note to be careful next time, he was really lucky that Cameroon was there to help him. He finds Johannes to be interesting and indeed wants to get to know him better, but he wasn't prepared for what happened earlier.

"Oh! Royce, you of course can come along too. Jonathan and Richard are following along." Cameroon stated

Royce nodded in agreement. "Where are we going, anyway? Is it that sweet shop across the road?"

"Yep! We always used to go there after school—it's been there for over eight years. You'll love it, trust me."

Royce decided to trust him. He really hoped he had some spare money in his backpack so he wouldn't go through the whole I-can-pay-for-you situation all over again.

"What time is it?" Royce asked Cameroon as he bent to grab his phone from his bag, which was

on the floor.

He took out his phone which had a clear case with a selfie of him and Johannes on the back of the phone, it showed how much he and Johannes are really close.

Wait why is there a heart on Johannes?

"It issss," Cameron dragged as he blocked his phone, "11:02. We've got another two hours—great."

"Until...?" Royce prompted, still a bit unsure about the school schedule. "Until lunch," answered Johannes.

Almost on cue, Royce's stomach growled. He looked back at it with daggers.

"You know, I've got a backup snack if you want it, Royce," offered Cameroon. His big smirk had slightly downsized into a small smile.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"You sure? That was a preeeetty loud grumble—"

"I'm fine," Royce repeated in a stern tone.

Cameroon crossed his arms. "Yeah no way you're fooling me. Take it. We're not blind, we're your friends, man. We're doing this to at least help you—I mean it's really not much for us, but if it helps you, we wouldn't even hesitate."

Amazed Cameroon finally said something good for once, Royce took his words to heart—although that didn't stop him from practically dying with embarrassment that people were willing to pay for his food and actually doing it.

He was definitely more than thankful about it, of course. He knew that the money used was nothing for them, compared to their wealthiness, but still, it constantly makes Royce feel like he's just a hopeless poor.

Which he actually is, but still.

Cameroon took out a snickers bar from the pockets of his bag and handed it to Royce. "Don't overthink about it man, c'mon take it," Cameroon promised with a smile.

"We're your new friends! We're here for ya! Right, Johannes?" Cameroon said as he looked at Johannes, who looked utterly guilty.

Royce took the snickers bar anyway, it would be enough to fill his stomach for now.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier, emotions got control of me," Johannes apologised as he put his head down glumly.

Cameroon laughed as he walked to Johannes' side and started patting him on the back. "Don't worry, it's not a big deal anyway. Right, Royce?"

Royce nodded sheepishly.

"See? We're friends again!"

He wrapped his arms around Johannes' neck. "Johannes, I already reserved a spot for us at the sweet shop for break, like always, I'll pay for us all!"

Johannes lift up his head, but only to raise a brow, suspicious as to why Cameroon was offering to treat them.

"Like always? Even if I look through my memories, you only treat us if you—" Johannes cut off himself as he facepalmed immediately after the realisation.

"What on earth did you get yourself into again?" Johannes quietly shrieked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Cameroon was about to answer with a simple "nothing," but Johannes cut him off just as he opened up his mouth.

"You don't need to talk, I'm already disappointed."